4 November 2008

Sales of passenger cars in October 2008 surpassed those of light trucks for 51.1% of the market. Click to enlarge.

Sales of light-duty vehicles in the US dropped 31.9% by volume year-on-year in October to 838,156 units, according to Autodata. There were 27 selling days for October 2008, versus 26 days for October 2007. Mark LaNeve, vice president, GM North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing, termed October 2008 “probably the worst industry sales month in the post-WWII era.”

Sales of passenger cars dropped 23.6% by volume to 428,089 units; sales of light-duty trucks plunged 38.9% to 410,067 units. Cars once again edged back past trucks to take 51.1% of new vehicle sales in October 2008. October 2008 also saw a 16% drop in the average price of gasoline in the US (all grades) to $3.112, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

General Motors. GM suffered a 45% drop in sales by volume down to 170,585 vehicles in October. GM truck sales of 97,119 were down 51% and car sales of 73,466 were off 34%. GM attributed the steep decline in vehicle sales to a significant drop in the market’s retail demand as uncertainty over the deepening credit crisis impacted consumer confidence.

The market has been shrinking for three years, but in October we saw a dramatic decline for the industry and GM...it also reflects an unprecedented credit crunch that is dramatically impacting the entire US economy—from the housing market to big and small companies to banks to family run businesses. The credit freeze has also had a very negative impact on consumers’ confidence and their purchase behavior across America.

We outpaced the competition with our sales results in August and September, and fell back with the industry in October. If you adjust for population growth, this is probably the worst industry sales month in the post-WWII era. We believe there is considerable pent-up demand from the last three years, but until the credit markets open up and consumer confidence improves, the entire US economy, and any industry like autos that relies on financing, will suffer.

Despite the poor results in October, there were a few bright spots for individual GM car and truck lines. Chevrolet Malibu retail sales were up 129%; the all-new Pontiac Vibe recorded a 6% total sales increase;
Saab retail sales were up 7.4%; and GM sold 44,500 Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Chevrolet Avalanche full-size pickups in October, further solidifying its segment leadership.

GM hybrids continue to build sales momentum and the company has broken through the 10-thousand vehicle sales mark. A total of 1,496 hybrid vehicles were delivered in the month. Hybrid sales included: 372 hybrid Chevrolet Tahoe, 193 GMC Yukon and 230 Cadillac Escalade 2-mode SUVs delivered. There were 325 Chevrolet Malibu, 22 Saturn Aura and 354 Vue hybrids sold in October. GM has sold 10,549 hybrids so far in 2008.

Toyota. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), USA., Inc., reported October sales of 152,101 vehicles, a decrease of 23% from last October by volume. Car sales were down 14.5% to 94,236 units; light truck sales were down 33.7% to 57,865 units.

Passenger car sales were led by Camry and Camry Hybrid, which posted combined sales of 30,556 units, a decrease year-on-year of 9.4%. Corolla recorded best-ever October sales of 27,386 units, up 6% by volume over the year-ago month. The Prius mid-size gas-electric hybrid posted October sales of 11,804 units, down 10.3% from the prior year.

TMS posted October sales of 16,310 hybrid vehicles, down 13.7% from October 2007.

Ford. Ford sales (including Volvo) dropped 30.2% in October 2008; sales of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles were down 29.2% to 129,121 units. Sales of passenger cars were down 26.8% to 40,854 units; sales of crossover utility vehicles were down 38.8% to 22.552 units; sales of SUVs were down 53.9% to 9,102 units; and sales of trucks and vans were down 19.2% to 56,613.

People who use the trucks for work are still purchasing (and I'm guessing existence of tax credits helps here). The shift away from the large SUVs is showing the people who bought light duty trucks as status symbols are no longer doing so and the pickups staying strong (relative to overall sales) tells me that it is likely to be mainly work trucks being sold.

mahonj, your not kidding. Recently while watching the news at lunch with a coworker, he became excited on seeing that oil dropped below $65/barrel. He said he was looking to replace his commuter car with an H2 Hummer. All I could do was shake my head and laugh.

The FACT is that few people can get a loan so few cars can sell at all no matter what they are.

On top of this everyone expects cars to get better soon and as such just as with computers the urge to wait and see grows and is of course boosted greatly by the terrible economy.

On top of all of that one hell of alot of people are worried thier taxes are going to go up ALOT SOON. And as such they are pondering moving.. people pondering this kind of move dont want a car right now.. and such people are the very people who buy trendy expensive cars...

I knpw the people down the block who always have several trendy spendy cars and trucks are planning to move out of the country soon and they arnt alone. The econ sucks the prospect of making money from your money is DEAD with the dems around and there simply are far better places in this world to go today for those in the 3-15 million moola range.

Oil prices are down because of recessionary trends. Once if the economy picks up, again the oil prices will cross $100 mark.

In 2007, Oil production dipped 0.2 % and same thing is going to happen this year as well. Simply put, there is no more oil and the best course for us is to move from CUV's to wagons just like we went from SUV's to CUV's. After all, wagons have 50 % more cargo capacity than comparitively sized sedan.

Also, we have to push further into all sort of alternatives like Ethanol, CNG, Methanol, etc.

People aren't all forgetful of high gas prices,notice Corolla sales were up 6% over last October.People don't want to give up too much to get good gas mileage and that's what the Corolla represents,a car that comes close to replicating the comfort level of your old Camry but with 30mpg plus average.Manufacturers would be wise to expand on this theme.More 1.6L to 2.0L engines in cars that afford decent rear leg room and acceptable NVH and acceleration numbers will hold them over until plug in hybrids become affordable.